Will You Stay A Little Longer?
by PMalsow
Summary: You and Carlos have had an amazing relationship, regardless of the time spent apart and the hard work it took on both of your parts, but will the stress of being with a famous member of a popular boy band finally be too much for you to handle?
1. Chapter 1

You sit at the foot of the bed, your head hung, and tears running down your cheek.  
>The window is open and a cool California breeze comes in. It's late and you're in your apartment… alone. Your head is spinning, and you swear you can feel your heart breaking in two. The whole night replays in your head like a movie and you wonder how on earth you got into this mess and thought you could handle it.<p>

Today had started out so perfectly.  
>Waking up next to Carlos was the only thing you looked forward to every day. He was the reason why you always woke up with a smile on your face.<p>

Today was different. You opened your eyes as the alarm clock went off and instantly noticed an emptiness in your bed. Carlos wasn't by your side, and it felt weird. Cold. It wasn't right. He didn't have to go until 10. You sat up and yawned out, "Carlos?".  
>"I'm coming!" he replied, you heard footsteps coming towards the bedroom, "Don't get up!"<br>You look towards the door wondering and in comes Carlos in nothing but his boxers and a chef's hat. He's carrying a tray with food.  
>"Breakfast in bed, my princess" he says, setting the tray down on your lap. He turns his chef's hat around and points to the words printed on it.<br>"Kiss the chef!" Carlos says, reading what's on the hat for you. He leans in for a kiss, but you playfully reject him.  
>"Nuh uh! I have to taste the food first…. gotta make sure that kiss is well deserved" you wink. He gives you that puppy dog look and you try to avoid those pleading eyes. He knows that's your weakness.<br>You close your eyes at the first bite. This is literally the most amazing thing you've ever tasted in your life.  
>"So… is it kiss worthy?" Carlos asks you.<br>"Mmm… you bet!" you say. You put the tray on the table next to your bed, "Come here, you!" you tell at Carlos, who is standing in front of you. He bends down to your level, as you're still sitting up in bed, and you wrap your arms around his neck. You pull him in and kiss him passionately. You pull away, but you stay forehead to forehead… his eyes hypnotizing you. Your heart beats loudly out of pure joy…. out of love. He starts to kiss you again, more passionately than before, this time, he begins to climb onto the bed, one leg by your right leg, his other leg by your left. He begins to press gentle kisses on your neck, working his way up by your right ear and he whispers, "I love you."  
>Your whole body goes weak and he sends chills down your spine with every kiss he presses onto your neck. Your eyes are closed with pleasure and your hands, fumbling with his hair. Suddenly, you look at the clock.<br>"Oh my God! Carlos, I'm going to be so late for school!" you say, pushing him away from you.  
>"I have to go! If I'm late again, I'm going to be in an enormous amount of trouble!" you begin to climb out of the bed, but Carlos' hand is in the way.<br>"Move, please!" you say, not in a mean way. More like, a pleading sort of way.  
>"Do you <em>have <em>to go?" He asks, half flirting, half pleading.  
>"YES! I have to go! It's school, for God's sake! Now, please let me get up."<br>He looks you in the eye and plants a soft gentle kiss on your lips. You get massive butterflies in your stomach, you wish you could stay, but you don't want to get kicked out of school.  
>"I love you." You say, "but I'll be back at 3, don't you worry."<br>"I'll be at the studio at until 11 tonight." He says, finally letting you get up. He sits down on the bed and watches as you get up and begin to pull out clean clothes.  
>"Ugh, I forgot you worked today!" you say as you pull off your shirt and put on a new one.<br>"Yep." he says.  
>You look at him, he seems upset.<br>"You're not mad, are you?" you ask, pulling on a clean pair of jeans.  
>Carlos looks up at you and shakes his head.<br>"School is important. I get it."  
>"School IS important." you answer, heading back over to the bed. You sit by him and put your arm around him, comfortingly. "You know how much getting this degree means to me."<br>He looks at you and smiles, weakly, "Yeah. I know.. whatever makes you happy, makes me happy." He kisses you on the cheek, "Now don't want to be late."  
>"Thanks for understanding, babe" you say and get up to go to the kitchen.<br>"I just wish you could stay a little longer…" he says softly as you are about to leave the room.  
>You stop walking and let out a huge sigh, wishing you could stay, but knowing you have to go. You make your way out to the bus stop.<br>The whole way you can't stop thinking about Carlos.  
>It's been days since you two have spent any time together besides asleep by each other. Carlos works most days until late at night, and you go to school in the morning and know it's not healthy to stay up waiting for him to get home.<br>And every morning, before you leave, Carlos asks you the same question:

"_Will you stay a little longer?" _

It kills you that you can't be with him as much as you used to. But you know he understands…. you hope he understands.

At school, that's all you can think about. You're dreading this feeling and all you want to do is go home.  
>"Hey, are you okay?" your friend asks you. She's five foot eight and has long, brown, luscious hair. She's the kind of girl every one wants to be. Pretty, smart, yet fun.<br>"Yeah, I'm fine." you say, with a smile on your face, "why?".  
>"Oh.. well I thought you'd be heartbroken after the break up."<br>"The _break up_? What are you talking about?" you ask, confused about where she'd heard **this** rumor from.  
>She pulled out a magazine and on the cover was a picture of Carlos and a girl you'd never seen before. She had brown hair, blue eyes, and either she stopped breathing and needed CPR standing up, or they were kissing.<br>You grabbed the magazine, in disbelief. The cover read, "Who's the new girl?" and in smaller print, it said "Could she be the reason his last relationship ended so badly?".  
>"These are lies…" you say, opening to the page where they talk about the so called break up you two shared.<br>"He'd never do this to me…"  
>"Well, these pictures were taken last Wednesday during the time you were in school. I just can't believe he'd cheat on you like that!" your oh so helpful friend says.<br>You read out loud, half ignoring her comment, "Carlos and his new mystery girl spent all morning at the beach last Wednesday. After spending hours in the sun, the new couple got in their cars and drove to the singer's apartment. A few hours later, she left."  
>You could feel your heart breaking.<br>"This doesn't make any sense to me.." you say, holding back your tears.  
>"Aw, baby he cheated on you! I'm so sorry, I thought you two BROKE UP!"<br>You start to walk off before she could say anything else. You can't believe it. You _trusted_him more than anyone else! How on earth could he do this to you?  
>You look at your phone, it's 3:30. You know he's at the studio right now… or at least you THINK he's there right now. You get on a bus headed to the studio grounds, thinking of all the horrible things you were going to say to him. After all these years of you being by each other's side, he threw that all away. Suddenly, you begin to blame yourself.<p>

_I should've stayed when he asked me to! I couldn't give him what he needed because I was too busy worrying about myself! God, I'm so STUPID! This is all my fault!_

You punish yourself until you get to your destination, tears are already running down your cheeks uncontrollably. The guard, who knows who you are, let you in without even thinking about it, but when he realized your tears, he yelled, "Are you okay?"  
>You ignored him. You can't talk to anyone right now. You just need to talk to Carlos. <p>

You hear a loud noise from outside, and this brings you back to reality. You're still sulking at the foot of your bed, and you get up to close the window and grab a sweater. The only one you can find is Carlos' striped blue sweatshirt… you grab it and put it on… you sit back down and ask yourself why you even went to the studio in the first place. That was the worst decision you've made in a long time.

"How could you!"  
>Carlos turns around and sees you, startled. He's talking to her.<br>"What are you doing here, babe?" he asks, confused.  
>"ANSWER ME, Carlos! HOW COULD YOU?"<br>"How could I what? What's wrong, babe?" He tried to put his hand on your shoulder but you move away.  
>You pull out the magazine and throw it at him.<br>"Why?" you ask. You're sobbing uncontrollably.  
>"Oh my God.." he says, looking into the magazine.<br>"Answer me…" you say. You're hurt. And he can see it. The mysterious girl stands there, not knowing what to do and begins to walk away.  
>"Hun, listen to me, okay? I…" Carlos begins, but you don't let him finish.<br>"I don't want excuses. I want the truth! How on earth could you just go and do this to me? What did I do to you?"  
>"Listen, please!"<br>"WHY? So you can tell me about your new girlfriend? You know what? I don't care. I just don't care."  
>"But.."<br>"But nothing. I'm done."  
>As you begin to walk away, Carlos comes after you and grabs your arm.<br>"Stop!" he says firmly. You turn to look at him, you see fire in his eyes, "Listen to me, PLEASE".  
>You look around. Everyone on set is watching.<br>"Fine.", you say. Still sobbing. " WHAT."  
>"The girl in these pictures is …"<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

"Yes, please. Tell me." you interrupt him looking in her direction. She's standing in the corner of the room, watching the scene you've caused unfold. You can feel the rage building up inside of you as you eyeball her with angry eyes.  
>"I would if you'd just listen!" Carlos screams. You've never seen him this angry before. He's a stranger.<br>"What on earth is going on here?" Kendall, a close friend of Carlos, comes in and stand between you and Carlos as if he thinks the fight is going to get physical.  
>"Nothing. At all. I was just leaving." you say, wiping your tears.<br>"But wait.." Carlos says, he comes up to you, pleading, "please."  
>You turn around and begin to walk away. It's really over, you think. You're holding back the tears. All you want to do is get out of there and forget the whole thing.<br>"PLEASE…", Carlos says, almost whispering. The whole room is silent, ".. will you stay a little longer…?"  
>You stop walking and can't hold back the tears anymore. All those days you ignored his simple request to stay just a little while longer… they all come back to you and hit you like a brick. Maybe this really was all your fault. Maybe, being in a relationship with someone as famous as him was a bad idea. After all, he could have any girl he wants. Any time. You wonder what made you think you could be his only one…<br>You turn around. All eyes are on you. Your head is pounding. You don't even know what to feel anymore.  
>Carlos' eyes light up just a little bit when he sees that you're not going to leave. Not this time. He walks over to you and grabs your shoulders. You're still crying. The lump in your throat won't go away. Carlos moves his hand over your cheek to wipe the tears and looks dead at you. You can't breathe, as you wait for his explanation.<br>"The girl in those pictures…" he says, quietly. Calmly, "…is a new cast member."  
>He shifts, uncomfortably<br>"Yes, we were at the beach that day, but we were working."  
>"Oh! So that's how you work? You take your new cast mates out to the beach and hold hands and eat ice cream? You were KISSING Carlos. I just saw…!" you realize you're screaming and take a deep breath, "I just saw the pictures." you saw, a lot quieter.<br>"No, listen! I told you never to trust these stupid magazines!" he says, he's still looking you in the eyes. "These are all lies. You know I'd NEVER hurt you. NEVER."  
>"But you were KISSING Carlos.. I saw it…" you say, desperate to know the truth.<br>"Babe, we were shooting an episode at the beach. This girl plays my new love interest in the show. The paparazzi took pictures and cropped out the cameras."  
>You look at him, suddenly realizing what a huge mistake you'd made coming in here the way you did. You're embarrassed. Everyone watches you, not knowing what you're going to say or do next. You can feel your face turning red.<br>"Oh my god…" you say, "I… I'm.. sorry… I shouldn't have come here. God, I'm so stupid!"

You turn to leave, crying harder than ever.  
>"I just thought you trusted me." you hear him say.<br>All you want to do is go home.

You look at the clock. It's 1:30 am. There's no way he's coming home tonight, you think. I ruined everything. You lay down on the bed, cozying up in Carlos' sweatshirt. You can hear cars outside every now and then passing by and you wonder where Carlos is spending the night. You punish yourself over and over again, "I should've just trusted him. I should've just waited until he got home tonight to ask him about the pictures."  
>You feel like a fool.<br>Your phone rings out of the blue. It's Carlos. You answer, happy at the thought that he'd called, but nervous after thinking about what he might say.  
>"Hey… I'm in my old apartment… please come over. I want to talk." His voice is a bit raspy, but gentle and calm.<br>"I'll be right over" you say, "… Carlos… I love you…"  
>There's a small pause on the other line. You check to see if he had already hung up, but he's still on the other line.<br>"… I'll see you in a bit." he answers and the line goes dead.

As you arrive into the building, your heart races. You don't know what to think. You have no idea what awaits for you.  
>You knock on his and your heart races faster than you thought possible.<br>"Come in." he says. He's wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt. It fits his upper body really well, it's fitted enough for you to almost see the muscles hiding underneath. He looks good.  
>"Before you say anything, I want to apologize again.. I just don't know what came over me. It's just that… you're… YOU… and you can have any girl you want. So I thought, why would he stick with me?…" you start talking swallowing hard so that the lump in your throat goes away, "I'm nothing special."<br>"I wish you could see what I see." he says, standing in front of you. He licks his lips, and already, it's driving you crazy. You want him to kiss you. You want him to make a mess out of your perfectly done hair. You want him. But you know that's probably not going to happen.  
>"You're the most beautiful girl in the world. To me, you're all I want… all I need." his voice is shaky. "Why can't you see that there's no one else for me? No one but you…"<br>You want to smile. But you can't. Something in you isn't letting you.  
>"I'm sorry. I'm insecure… I'm selfish…" you say, looking down at your feet… ".. you deserve better."<br>He pulls your chin up and looks you in the eye, "I don't want better." he says.  
>"But you NEED better. I feel like I can't handle being with you. I get jealous and I can't seem to understand that it's your job. I mean, I still can't stop thinking about why that girl was in here with you for 'a few hours'. I trust you.. I just don't trust her.." your response shocks him a little.<br>"I wanted her to help me with something… just trust me okay?"… he responds quietly.  
>"Why can't I know… I mean… See? I can't do this anymore Carlos. And as much as it hurts me, I'm going to have to let you go…. you deserve better… MUCH better than me."<br>You step backwards, making the gap between the two of you larger. You love him. You really do. But he deserves someone who understands.  
>Carlos' hand reaches out for you, as if he wants to put his arm around you, but he stops and puts his hand in his pant pocket. "Look… I know my life is crazy. With all the paparazzi and all the fans… everyone's watching all the time. I know it's hard. But I promise, we can do it. You'll learn. I don't want to lose you because of my job."<br>"I'm not used to this lifestyle, Carlos. All I'd do is hold you back… I don't want to do that… I'm sorry. I'm really really sorry…. but I think it's best that I let you go." you almost question your decision, but you know it's the best thing for him.  
>He deserves better.<br>You begin to walk away towards the door and you feel tears running down your cheek.  
>"Wait.." Carlos says from behind you. You're facing the door, and stop in your tracks.<p>

You sigh.

"Carlos… let's not make this harder than it already is…" you say. You slowly turn around, expecting him to be standing behind you but you gasp at what you see.  
>Carlos is on one knee, holding up a little black box.<br>"what…" you can barely speak.  
>He grabs the little black box and opens it up, revealing a diamond ring. Carlos looks up at you with hopeful eyes and says:<p>

"Please..

_Will you stay a little longer…?"_

"Oh my God!" you say. You can't believe this is happening. Your eyes tear up, your heart is racing, and you feel like you can't breathe. Carlos is looking up at you, with those puppy dog, hopeful eyes.  
>"I…. I don't know what to say…!" you're literally speechless.<br>"Just say yes." he says. He's still on one knee.  
>The ring he's holding up is literally the most beautiful thing you've ever seen in your life. It's gold all around and the diamond rock is shaped like a heart. On the inside of the ring it reads:<p>

_Just You and I. Forever._

"… yes… YES!" you finally say, "I will marry you!"  
>Carlos gets up and puts the ring on your finger, with the most adorable smile on his face. His hands are shaking. After the ring is on, he looks at you and with one hand, pulls your face closer to his. His lips almost touching yours.<br>"I love you… more than you know" he says.  
>You kiss him, tears of joy running down your cheek.<br>"How did I get so lucky?" you say.  
>"I'm the one who got lucky." he says. He kisses your forehead and you smile.<br>You've never been so happy in your life.  
>Through all this mess, he stuck by your side. And now, it's time you stuck through his.<p>

An hour goes by and you're on the couch. You're laying by his side with your head on his chest. You can hear his heartbeat, and it's rocking you to sleep.  
>"I wish I would've made this night more special. I'm sorry it had to be so boring." he says.<br>"Are you kidding me?" you say, "any night that ends with you in my arms is perfect."  
>He kissed your head and you both drift off into a deep sleep, dreaming about your future.<br>A lifetime awaits for you and your one true love.  
>You're glad you stayed just a little longer.<p> 


End file.
